Through the Garden Gate-April 2021

 

Only a few  weeks ago after I had mulched all the garden beds, I was thinking how flat and boring they looked. But now they are filling out and looking greener and more colourful day by day.  Everyday as I walk around the garden I can see more new growth and buds appearing on trees and shrubs.  All this new growth seems to creep up on us giving lovely surprises as we spot something else which is now in flower or has filled out a bit more.

The tulip tubs have been in flower.  I am more of a pink and purple person when it comes to colour in the garden, so I was surprised when two tubs which I had planted up in the autumn produced orange tulips.  The colour on the label must not have been as true to life, but I really like them.  I moved them away from the pink pots so they wouldn't clash then I spotted  pink tulips coming through in amongst the orange pot. I don't know what went wrong there!

I planted up a lavender hedge either side of the archway with some free lavender plants which I got from an offer in a gardening magazine. I was really pleased when they arrived to find that they were good sized plants. There were ten so five on each side of the arch fitted nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing and smelling the result later in the year.

My husband fitted a wooden edge to one of the borders in the back garden to neaten it up.  It should help to contain the plants which flop over and had been damaging the lawn.  

Holly seemed to approve of the new development!

There was a Ceaonothus shrub in this border which I bought a couple of years ago and had grown way too big for its space, next to the Liquidamber tree. We decided to move it and checking its label I read that it could be grown as a wall shrub or a tree. Not surprising it had grown so big then. What a job it was moving it, with branches all over the place and heavy roots! Its now in its new place further along the border with more space. I have pruned it into a tree shape and its blue flowers are starting to open up. We had to do quite a bit of moving plants around to accommodate the Ceanothus, but the border should look better now.

There has been so much blossom about in April and many trees are still opening up with their blossom. We have blossom trees on the grass verges outside our house and they are looking lovely at the moment.  

Our Amelanchier tree has blossomed and gone over but the crab apple is now opening up its flowers.

There is so much to enjoy now in our gardens and much more to look forward to.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--April 2020

April has been a lovely month in the garden.  Lockdown has meant we have had more time to spend gardening and the weather has been beautiful. We have had lovely days working with the sun on our backs or sitting relaxing and admiring the garden.

The borders are filling out now and becoming more colourful each day.  I'm sure some plants are flowering earlier, it must be the warm weather which has brought them on.

The tulips have been lovely, all grown in pots, I must grow more next year.  The Amelanchier tree is the first to produce blossom, such dainty flowers, but they don't last long.

Along the grass verges outside our house are rows of cherry blossom trees. These look amazing when they are all flowering. The crab apple in the garden is now flowering, it has lovely white blossom.  

This little area in front of the shed is one of my favourites. It was newly planted up last year.  I love the blue Camassia and pink Aquilegia with the blue of the Ceaonothus further back.

 Aquliegias are popping up all over the garden now, they are a lovely cottage garden plant and although they seed all over the place I do love them.  The Alliums are about to burst into flower, hopefully in next month's garden review I will have a good photo of them.

At this time of year we are regular visitors to our local garden centres and plant nurseries. But lockdown has meant we can no longer visit them.  After much searching around I finally found that some nurseries are offering click and collect or a telephone  home delivery service. How relieved I was to be able to still buy compost and container bedding plants.

I am linking this post with Sarah's blog  at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly
'Through the Garden Gate' post

Through the garden gate--April

Back in October I celebrated my 70th birthday and my daughters gave me garden vouchers, which is one of the best presents to buy me. Stocking a new garden with plants can be expensive and although I brought a lot of plants with me from my old garden there are still other plants which I would like.

I really wanted another tree for the garden and after much time spent looking at trees in garden centres I finally decided on a crab apple--crab apple 'Evereste' is the one I bought.  I like crab apples because they have blossom in the Spring, good autumn colour and fruits which the birds love.

When we planted the tree a few weeks ago it had lots of deep pink blossom buds on it. It finally burst into flower at Easter with beautiful white blossom. It has been the star of the garden during April and is still looking good.

Underneath the tree are two pots of tulips which I planted up last autumn.  They are lovely shades of white and pink and look lovely next to the white apple blossom. It's funny how sometimes plant combinations work well even when they were unintentionally put together.

The amelanchier has also been flowering during April and was a joy to see.  Outside our house on the grass verges lining the road are trees full of pink blossom. April must be the month for blossom.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.